1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system in which two video input sources, such as personal computers (PCs), share a monitor and, more particularly, to a method of matching cables connected between a monitor and video input sources in the monitor, and a monitor for performing the matching method.
2. Related Art
A conventional system is made up of first and second PCs, first and second video cables, first and second Universal Serial Bus (USB) cables, and a monitor having first and second video ports and first and second USB ports.
In order for the first and second PCs to share the monitor, the first and second video cables and the first and second bidirectional USB cables are connected between the first PC and the monitor, and between the second PC and the monitor. The video cable transmits a video signal output from the first or second PC to the monitor, and the USB cable transmits a communication signal between the first or second PC and the monitor. The monitor can receive a video signal from only one of the two PCs at a certain point in time. In that case, the monitor must transmit a communication signal to, and receive it from, the PC from which the monitor has received the video signal. Accordingly, the PC which transmits and receives a communication signal must be the same as the PC which currently receives the video signal. However, the conventional monitor cannot know which of the first and second USB ports the USB cable (of the PC which is connected to the video cable connected to the video port through which the video signal is currently received) is connected to. In order to solve this problem, the conventional monitor recognizes that a video cable and a USB cable connected to the first video port and the first USB port, respectively, are connected to the same PC, and that a video cable and a USB cable connected to the second video port and the second USB port, respectively, are connected to the same PC. For example, the conventional monitor is given the fixed matching relationship between ports in advance, and then recognizes and processes signals which are input to these ports.
Hence, in order to smoothly perform a corresponding operation using the first and second PCs and the single monitor, a user must connect video and USB cables to corresponding ports while considering which of the video ports matches which of the USB ports. Also, if a user connects the video and USB cables to the wrong video and USB ports without knowing the matching relationship between ports, or with carelessness even though he or she knows the matching relationship, he or she should ascertain the unmatched connection through a scene displayed on the monitor, and then physically re-connect the wrongly-connected cables to the correct ports.
To solve the above problem, an objective of the present invention is to provide a method of matching cables in a monitor capable of matching video and serial communication cables connected to the same video input source regardless of the state in which the video and serial communication cables are connected to the video and communication connection ports of the monitor.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a monitor for performing the cable matching method.
To achieve the first objective, the present invention provides a cable matching method in a monitor which has two video connection ports that are connected to video cables for transmitting video signals output from two video input sources, and two communication connection ports that are connected to serial communication cables for transmitting communication signals that are exchanged with the video input sources. The monitor is connected to a manipulator that is manipulated by a user. The method includes: (a) selecting one of the video connection ports and one of the communication connection ports; (b) determining whether the video cable connected to the selected video connection port is matched with the serial communication cable connected to the selected communication connection port; (c) selecting the other of the communication connection ports if it is determined that the video cable connected to the selected video connection port does not match the serial communication cable connected to the selected communication connection port; and (d) obtaining matching information representing the matching relationship between the video cables and the serial communication cables after step (c), or if it is determined that the video cable connected to the selected video connection port is matched with the serial communication cable connected to the selected communication connection port. In this method, the term xe2x80x9cmatchingxe2x80x9d denotes the connection of the video cable and the serial communication cable to the same video input source, wherein the monitor displays a picture corresponding to a video signal received via the selected video connection port, and a communication connection port, to which the serial communication cable that matches the video cable connected to the selected video connection port is connected, is connected to the manipulator.
To achieve the second objective, the present invention provides a monitor for performing a cable matching method, including: a video connection unit for selecting one of the video signals in response to a first selection signal, and outputting the selected video signal; a communication connection unit for selecting one of the communication connection ports in response to a second selection signal, and connecting the selected communication connection port to the manipulator in response to a first control signal; a control unit for outputting the first selection signal and the first control signal, outputting the second selection signal in response to an external non-matching signal, and producing the matching information; and a display unit for processing the video signal output from the video connection unit, and displaying a picture. Preferably, the non-matching signal is generated by the manipulator according to matching or non-matching.